Time, efficiency, productivity are closely connected. How can NLP help you beautifully harmonize them?

You always find the time.

The NLP principle of forced efficiency dictates that there’s never enough time to do everything, but there’s always enough time to do the most important things. When we run out of time and know that the consequences of not completing a task could be serious, we always seem to find the time to do it, albeit it may be at the last minute. We start early, stay late, and complete the task rather than face the consequences that would follow if we did not complete the task in time. There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do.

You already have too much on the plate…

The average person nowadays works to 110 – 130% of capacity, while the jobs and responsibilities keep piling up. The average executive has 300 – 400 hours of reading and projects backlogged at home and at the office. This means that you will never be caught up. The best you can hope for is that you’ll stay on top of your most important responsibilities. The rest will have to wait – or be delegated.

Deadlines can be counterproductive.

Although many people say that they work better to deadlines, years of research indicate this seldom to be true. Under the pressure of (often self-created due to procrastination and delay or the intention of their prevention) deadlines people are more stressed, make more mistakes, hence have to lose even more time and energy on redoing more tasks than they would have to under other conditions. The mistakes made under tight deadlines often lead to defects and substantial financial losses in the long term. Many times the job takes much longer to complete when people rush to get it done at the last minute and then have to redo it.

This is the core question of time management and the key to overcoming procrastination and becoming a highly productive person. There is an answer to this question every hour of every day. Keep asking this question and always keep working on the answer, whatever the answer be. Do things that matter the most first. Never leave them at the mercy of things that matter the least. The more accurate your answer to this question, the more easily you will set clear priorities, overcome procrastination, and complete the activities that best represent the most valuable use of your time. Regularly analyze yourself, your life, your usage of time. Become a master of your time rather than a slave to the pressure of time.

Time is your most precious and valuable resource. Time is perishable, irreplaceable, impossible to save. Hence it can only be reallocated from activities of lower value to activities of higher value. All work requires time. And time is essential for important relationships in your life. Therefore the very act of thinking about your time before you spend it will immediately improve your management of time. Managing your time begins with you thinking through what is really important to you in life. Time will be your friend only if you organize it around things that you want to accomplish. Set goals in these three major areas of your life.

Firstly, family and personal goals.

These are the real reasons why you get up in the morning, work hard and upgrade your skills, worry about money, and sometimes feel frustrated by the demands on your time. What are your tangible and intangible personal and family goals? A tangible family goal can be a bigger house, a vacation, or anything that costs money. An intangible goal can be a better relationship with your spouse or children, or to spend more time with your family going for walks or reading books. Achieving your family and personal goals is the real essence and major purpose of time management.

Secondly, business and career goals.

These are the “how” goals, the means by which you achieve your personal “why” goals. How can you achieve the level of income that will enable you to fulfill your family goals? How can you develop the skills and abilities to stay ahead in your career? Business and career goals are also essential, especially when balanced with family and personal goals.

Thirdly, personal development goals.

You can’t achieve more on the outside than what you have achieved on the inside. Your outer life is a reflection of your inner life. Hence if you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and professional life, you must develop yourself into a worthwhile person. You must build yourself if you want to build your life. The core principle of success is that you can certainly become anything you really want to become to achieve any goal you want to achieve. But in order to do it you must work on yourself and never stop.

1. What are your highest value activities?

What are the most important tasks that you have to complete to contribute the most to your business / family / life? This is one of the most important questions you can ask and answer. What are your highest value activities? Think this through. Then ask your boss / coworkers / friends / family. Like focusing the lens of a camera, you must be crystal clear about your highest value activities. Then begin work.

2. What can only you do that will make the real difference?

The answer contains something that only you can do, no one else. If you do it, and well, it will make a significant difference to your personal / professional life. What is your answer to this question? Every hour of every day there will be an answer. Your job is to be clear about the answer and work on this task before anything else.

Take a quiet moment each day

when no one can disturb you. Let your mind relax and think about your work and activities without stress or pressure. You’ll certainly receive wonderful insights and ideas that will save you time when you apply them on the job. You’ll often experience breakthroughs that will change your life and work.

Finally, here’s what you can do today:

start building the habit of regularly thinking about what is really important to you. The more often you think, the better decisions you will make.

set clear personal and family goals. Write them down. Discuss them with others. Be clear about why you are doing what you are.

think about your professional goals and the steps you will have to take to achieve them. Do something every day that moves you forward in all three areas.

make a list of everything you do at work and select your most valuable tasks from the list.

start on the task of the highest value and stay at it until it is 100% complete. Then move on to the next task of the highest value…

If this article inspired you to start mastering your time and want more NLP help, let’s talk about it.